No doubt the business premises, contents and all vehicles are properly insured and protected. But inanimate objects such as these don’t constitute a business, people do! So why then, do most businesses insure their executive’s cars but not the executives themselves who actually keep the business running.

Every business large or small has certain key personnel who are vital to its success. This might be the sales director, highly trained professional or a specialist craftsman. Without these valuable individuals, your business would most likely fail very quickly. In fact, the death or long-term illness of such key people is a major cause of business failures.

Even so, the damage caused by the prolonged absence of someone on whom a large part of the business depends is often not considered.

Business protection insurance is designed to provide the financial support you would need if key staff covered are affected by death, terminal or critical illness, or permanent disability during the policy term.

 

You can tailor the policy benefits to meet your specific needs from a range of features, such as index-linked benefits so that they stay in line with increases in inflation.

A business protection policy covers the individual people you nominate in your policy or policies. If one of these people dies, is diagnosed with a terminal or critical illness the benefits are paid out to the business as follows:

For life cover and critical illness protection, a lump sum is paid on death or after diagnosis of one of the specified illness covered by the policy.

For business loan protection, a lump sum is also paid. However, this reduces to nil over the course of the policy as the debt is reduced.

If a partner in a business dies, there may be additional threats to consider. Apart from their loss to everyday business activity, there may be urgent reasons to buy out their shareholding so that it doesn't pass to outside investors who do not share the vision of the company’s future. Such unforeseen events can lead to crises, reduced revenues and even, in some cases, business collapse.

With no employer to turn to if ill health prevents them from working, the self employed have a greater need for protection than most.

If you are self employed, being your own boss has many perks. But not having an employer to pick up the pieces can have its disadvantages, particularly if unforeseen events such as ill health stop you from being able to earn a living.

With your lifestyle being so dependant on work and being fully able to work you haven’t got time to be ill. If you are ill, you want to be treated as fast as possible without the additional stress of worrying about the cost.